Russia urges US to abandon ‘megaphone diplomacy’ in disarmament issues

UNITED NATIONS, October 13. /TASS/. Moscow urges the US to abandon its "megaphone diplomacy" and start solving all the issues linked to the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) implementation through a substantive dialogue, Russian diplomat Andrei Belousov has said at the meeting of the UN General Assembly's disarmament committee.

"If we want a business-like conversation for solving all the existing problems in regard to this document between the United States and the Russian Federation, let’s speak about this closely to the topic using the mechanisms we have for this and let’s stop populism and megaphone diplomacy," said Belousov, a representative of Russia’s Foreign Ministry department for non-proliferation and arms control issues.

The diplomat rejected Washington’s accusations that Russia is allegedly violating the INF treaty. He retaliated the accusations, saying Moscow is concerned about the unmanned fighting vehicles, target-missiles and MK 41 vertical launching systems that are banned under the treaty.

Moscow’s concerns "have remained unanswered so far." "More correctly, the answer comes in the form of ungrounded insinuations. We believe this cannot be justified in any way," Belousov said.

The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, a major agreement ensuring strategic stability in Europe, was signed by the Soviet Union and the United States on December 8, 1987. It eliminated nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with intermediate ranges, defined as between 500-5,500 kilometers.

The US Department of State in its recent annual report said Russia allegedly develops a new ground-launched cruise missile that is banned by the bilateral landmark arms control treaty. Moscow rejects the allegations, saying the US has no facts to prove this and only cites "reliable closed sources."

US Refuses to Give Guarantees on Missile Defense

The US "took the first step towards undermining the strategic stability in the world" by withdrawing from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM Treaty) in 2002 and beginning to create the global missile defense system. Washington has claimed that this system is not aimed against Russia, but refused to provide the judicial guarantees, he stressed.

The diplomat noted that despite this, Russia took unprecedented steps in reducing its nuclear arsenal, and in particular signed the New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) in 2010.

Belousov also expressed concerns about the US prompt global strike (PGS) concept that envisages using precision-guided conventional weapons for solving strategic tasks.

Talks on Disarmament Without Double Standards

The diplomat rejected the US claims that Moscow has refused to continue talks on reducing nuclear arsenals. He reminded that in October 2014 Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia insisted on continuing the negotiations on condition that they are not based on double standards.

"It was meant that the talks should result in strengthening security of all their participants and not that some states gain military advantages over the others. We have not received proposals from the US on conducting talks on this basis that is of principal importance for us," Belousov said.